Elucidation of the Cl-transport mechanism of halorthodopsin by time-resolved electric and spectroscopic measurements

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First of all, we improved the photovoltage measurements system so that it enabled us to examine the photovoltage generation from 1 μsec to 500 msec.Then, using the time-resolved photovoltage measurement system, we examined photovoltage kinetics of halorthodopsin from Halobacterium salinarum. As a function of chloride concentrations. The photovoltage consisted of two major components ; one with a sub-ms range time constant and the other with ms range time constant with different amplitudes., These components exhibited different Cl^- concentration dependencies (0.1 M to 9 M). We found that the time constant for the fast component was relatively independent of the Cl^- concentration, whereas the time constant for the slow component increased sigmoidally at higher Cl^- concentrations. The fast and the slow processes were attributed to charge (Cl^-) movements within the protein and related to Cl^- ejection, respectively. The laser photolysis studies of shR-membrane suspensions revealed that … More they correspond to the formation and the decay of the N intermediate. The photovoltage amplitude of the slow component exhibited a distorted bell-shaped Cl^- concentration dependence and the Cl^- concentration dependence of its time constant suggested a weak and highly cooperative Cl^- binding site(s) at cytoplasmic side (apparent K_D of about 5 M and Hill coefficient ≧ 5). The Cl^- concentration dependence of the photovoltage amplitude and the time constant for the slow process suggested a competition between spontaneous relaxation and ion translocation. The time constant for the relaxation was estimated to be > 100 ms.Electrogenic activity of the halorhodopsin (hR) from shark strain was also examined. After absorbing hR-overproduced membrane fraction onto a thin polymer film, we measured photoelectric current upon illumination at various Cl^- concentrations. The amplitude of the photoelectric current exhibited a bell-shaped Cl^- concentration dependency. It was found that R108Q mutant also exhibited photoelectric current at a high Cl^- concentration. The result indicates that R108 is important for uptaking Cl^- from the medium, but once Cl^- is located near the Schiff base, hR can exhibit electrogenicity even without R108. Less